2023-09-12
Sovereignty: Supreme and final governing authority.
Unitary system: the national government is completely sovereign
Confederation: The states or similar lower level governments are completely sovereign
Federalism: Sovereignty is shared between national and state governments
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This isn’t just to be silly:
Question:
Balls within a ball
National government is supreme and holds all sovereignty
Do they have lower level governments? (States, cities, etc.)
- Yes! But those governments get their power solely from the national government and the national government can abolish the lower units, change their powers, or overrule decisions at any time.Most countries are unitary states
- 166 of 193 United Nations Members Examples:
- People's Republic of China
- Republic of China (Taiwan)
- France
- Finland
- SwedenThe states are completely sovereign
The sovereign units may be called states, republics, kingdoms, principalities, or other names associated with sovereign states
Also called a confederacy or a league
Is there a central or national government?
- Yes! But the national government gets it power solely from the state governments and the state governments can abolish the central government, change its powers, ignore its decisions, or even overrule its decisions at any time.Examples:
- Benelux states (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg)
- European Union
- Switzerland
- Union State of Russia and Belarus
- United Colonies of New England (1643-1689)
- united States of America (1776-1789)
- Confederate States of America
- Commonwealth of Independent States (1991-??)Also called federal systems or federalist systems
The central or national government is also called the federal government
Sovereignty is shared between the state and national governments
- The powers of state and national governments are defined in a constitution
- The national government may not change the powers of the states
- The state governments may not change the powers of the national government
- Each level's powers are binding on the other in its own proper sphere of influenceThere are 27 federations in the world
Examples:
- Australia
- Canada
- Brazil
- Estados Unidos Mexicanos
- Germany
- Russian Federation
- United Arab Emiratesand The United States of America
GOVT2306, Fall 2023, Instructor: Tom Hanna